Marcus Semien understands who he’s changing. He is aware of what outfielder Brandon Nimmo meant to Mets followers and to the clubhouse he has helped lead over the higher a part of the final decade. The latest Mets’ infielder understands this as a result of he held the same standing along with his previous group as a captain.
“I feel for the Mets fans,” Semien mentioned Tuesday on a Zoom name with New York media members. “When you lose a player who has been present and who has been such a fixture in that lineup and in the community, has a great personality and is such a nice guy, I feel for the fans.”
Semien is hoping Mets followers will like what he brings to Flushing.
“I want to play until they tell me to go home,” he mentioned. “At this point in my career, it feels extremely good to have a team that believes in me, sees what I do well and wants to help me offensively. I think that I still have a lot to offer.”
Semien’s profession has unfolded a lot in another way than Nimmo’s. The Mets would be the fifth group he’s performed for and the primary within the Nationwide League. Nimmo, however, has by no means identified one other group. The Mets drafted the outfielder out of his Wyoming highschool in 2011. A primary-round choose, he was the primary draft choose of a brand new period, with former normal supervisor Sandy Alderson main the baseball operations efforts.
Throughout his tenure in Queens, Nimmo noticed a number of totally different Mets eras. He believed the most recent one would achieve success, which is why he signed an eight-year contract in 2022. It may not have been that way back, but it surely looks like eons in the past, contemplating the Mets have already modified over their entrance workplace management and training workers in that point.
That is the place Semien can empathize with Nimmo. He signed a seven-year cope with the Rangers across the similar time Nimmo signed up for eight extra years in a Mets uniform. Lengthy-term free agent contracts usually afford gamers and their households safety and stability. Instantly, all of that may really feel as if it’s been upended once they’ve been traded, and it may be particularly stunning for 2 franchise gamers like Semien and Nimmo.
“It was surprising, just understanding that, hey, I signed here on a long-term deal four years ago,” Semien mentioned. “But I’m very conscious of what’s going on in the business side of baseball, just kind of paying attention to everything, so in the back of my mind, I knew something could always happen.”
That doesn’t essentially make it any simpler to digest the change.
Nimmo and his spouse, Chelsea, not too long ago accomplished a transform of a home in Port St. Lucie. They anticipated to boost their 1-year-old daughter Tatum in that home, and have been enthusiastic about having the ability to host group events.
Semien and his spouse, Tarah, made Texas their offseason dwelling. They put down roots there and put their youngsters in class there. The dad and mom of 5, their youngest two have been born within the Dallas space. Their daughter Amelie had been born in the course of the Rangers’ 2023 World Collection run, and their fifth youngster was born solely three weeks in the past. After being approached concerning the commerce, Semien known as former Mets and Rangers beginning pitcher Max Scherzer to ask for recommendation on deal with household dwelling in New York.
However for Semien, the logistical implications of the commerce haven’t diminished his pleasure to play in New York.
“When people ask me, ‘What’s your favorite road city? I say New York,” Semien mentioned. “I like being within the metropolis. I grew up on the West Coast in the same setting, the San Francisco Bay Space. Perhaps not as massive as New York, however when it comes to tradition, it’s undoubtedly a spot that I actually get pleasure from being, and I get to do what I like in that metropolis in entrance of followers that love the sport.
“There’s a strong history of the Mets organization. They’ve had great players who came through there and done some good things, and I just want to be one of those players.”
Semien thinks he may be a type of gamers. The depth and scrutiny in New York is not like wherever else, and positively not a attribute shared by followers on the laid-back West Coast. However Semien appears to be energized by the problem.
“In terms of baseball itself, I couldn’t be more excited to play in a large market and in front of a fanbase that brings the energy every single night,” he mentioned. “That brings the best out of me.”
Semien and Nimmo have performed lengthy sufficient that they know they don’t need to attempt to replicate what every of them did of their respective clubhouses. Issues might be totally different, however totally different isn’t essentially dangerous.
Mets followers is likely to be unhappy proper now, and the remainder of the group is definitely feeling that change is coming. However Semien, it’s a change he’s desperate to embrace. He hopes the sensation is mutual with the Mets.
“I think everybody is aligned with the goal to go out there and give it their all, and put forth their best effort to win baseball games,” he mentioned. “It’s a culture that I want to be a part of.”
